June 2015

A good reputation, resident referrals, and a solid, predictable community ends and begins with your residents. It’s no secret that your residents are your biggest asset, even bigger than your $40+ million property. Because of this, creating a better focus on customer experience and retention is key. To begin this focus we need to take a peek at a few statistics of why customers leave in the first place: 68% are unhappy with service, 14% are unhappy with product, and 9% move to a competitor.

Be a great listener. You’ll find that this tip is a prerequisite for the following tips. Becoming a great and active listener is a valuable art to master for any professional role you take on in life. Pay attention to your customer’s message and body language, and resist distractions. It is also important to keep an open mind if they begin to disagree or identify objections. Don’t tune them out or cut them off. Listen closely, and let them know that you understand by reframing key points.

The art of persuasion – not to get confused with manipulation- lies in simplifying something down to its core, and communicating to others what they really care about. Manipulation, however, is coercion through force to get someone to do something that is not in his or her own interest. Persuasion is the art of getting people to do things that are in their own best interest that also benefit you.Read More

When was the last time you experienced amazing follow up – whether you were the one following up or someone was following up with you – and that amazing experience led to an immediate sale? These experiences can be rare, because we are often losing customers with unauthentic and automated follow up strategies. To avoid creating a multiplying list of cold prospects, keep this in mind: “Tenacity results in sales.” And then reevaluate your follow up strategy with these tips: